Podcast #173 – Chip Walter (Last Ape Standing)

We interview Chip Walter, author of Last Ape Standing: The Seven Million Year Story of How and Why We Survived, an excellent new summation of the best current understanding of human evolution. It’s available in hardcover and for Kindle. For more about Chip and his work, visit ChipWalter.com and AllThingsHuman.net.

Plus:

Oddsmakers are taking bets on who the new Pope will be (although after we recorded this the Cardinals inconveniently chose Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who has taken the name Pope Francis).

A Christian school in California fired a pregnant woman for breaking the school code by fornicating–then offered the job her fiance (the man who got her pregnant)!

Muslim rioters in Pakistan burned 100 homes over rumors that a Christian garbageman made disparaging remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. Luckily, President Asif Zardari is “asking religious leaders for suggestions on how to prevent misuse of the blasphemy law.” Problem solved.

The Baseball Bat of Doubt – By popular demand, we introduce a new, recurring segment in which listeners share the moment in which, for them, the cognitive dissonance of superstition was knocked aside by science, reason or logic.

And a reminder:Â Derek Colanduno of Skepticality, Blake Smith of Monster Talk, and John Snider of American Freethought will do a special presentation for the Atlanta Skeptics. Itâ€™s a fundraiser for the upcoming Atlanta Skepticamp. For more info visitÂ meetup.com/atlantaskeptics.